BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — We’re less than one week away from the end of the legislative season,
and Governor John Bel Edwards commented on what he says are some of this session’s major wins.
“I think there are a number of bills we can be particularly proud of, especially the budget for the state of Louisiana this year. It is a responsible budget,” said Edwards.
Governor Edwards said he’s most proud of the state operating budget. The budget invests in early and higher education, including pay raises.
Higher education now has enough money for a five percent faculty pay raise. In addition to this, some K-12 personnel will receive a $1,500 annual pay raise while support workers will see a $750 yearly raise.
“It wasn’t as much as we thought we should have given them, and it was not as much as we could have afforded,” said Edwards. “I believe this is the best budget for higher education in at least a generation, if not in our state’s history.”
As the session nears its end, Edwards is scheduled to testify before the Special Committee to Investigate Ronald Greene in a meeting that will occur within the next few weeks.
The governor denies any allegations of coverups or of withholding information from the public, such as body camera footage.
“The truth, as I said all along, is good for me. I know what the truth is, I’ve spoke the truth the whole time,” he said.
During Thursday’s press conference, the governor also touched on hurricane preparedness and the pandemic.
According to LDH, as of Thursday about 200 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state. Gov. Edwards says the state is seeing an increase in virus cases, and this is a concern given that hurricane season has begun.
